Friday, January 30, 2026

Mamdani’s bad moon rising

 Silvio Canto, Jr. - American Thinker  

"The money ain’t coming from Albany, because they don’t have any.  It won’t come from the “rich,” because they are done playing the socialist’s game."

AfterMath

"We read in the news that Mayor Mamdani is warning of a fiscal crisis.  This The Wall Street Journal story:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani says New York City is facing an unexpected $10 billion projected budget deficit in the coming year and plans to push state lawmakers to increase taxes on high-income New Yorkers and corporations to close the hole.

‘We must raise taxes on the wealthiest few in New York City so that we can invest in the many,’ the newly elected Democratic socialist mayor of the country’s largest city said in an interview Tuesday.

During the campaign, Mamdani pledged to raise taxes on millionaires and corporations to help fund his ambitious affordability agenda. But the plan drew swift rebuke from the city’s elite, who said a tax hike would drive the wealthiest out of New York. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who would have to sign off on the increases, has said she opposes income-tax hikes but has previously been more open to a potential corporate-tax increase. ‘I don’t believe in raising taxes for the sake of raising taxes,’ she said earlier this month.

Mamdani said in the interview the tax increases were now urgently needed to meet the moment. ‘New York City has not seen a gap of this scale since the Great Recession,’ he said, referring to the 2008-09 financial crisis. He added that his administration has already begun conversations with state officials.

Mamdani also wants Albany lawmakers to increase the amount of state funding the city receives. Hochul has boosted state funding to the city since she took office, according to a spokeswoman for the governor.

"The story gets very complicated for a couple of reasons." . . .  More...


Left-Wing Politicians and 'Journalists' Go Insane Over Don Lemon Arrest, but the Receipts Loom Large

 RedState

"Left-Wing Politicians and 'Journalists' Go Insane Over Don Lemon Arrest, but the Receipts Loom Large"

MSNOW's 24-hour coverage of Trump's "racism" begins now.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon taken into custody after protest at Minnesota church service - CBS News

  . . ."The Justice Department has been scrutinizing a video of a pre-meeting that Lemon filmed before the protest, the source said. That meeting was attended by a number of the defendants, including Allen, Armstrong and Jamael Lydell Lundy. The Justice Department has been focusing on the gathering as alleged evidence of a conspiracy to interfere with people's religious rights. Lemon was filming the meeting as part of his reporting, the source added. Lundy was among the four people arrested overnight." . . .

Ex-CNN host Don Lemon arrested for Minnesota church invasion  "Disgraced ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles early Friday over the anti-ICE protest that stormed a Minneapolis church during Sunday service, according to his attorney and US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

" 'Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents … in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Lemon’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement shared with multiple reporters.

"He was one of four people arrested by federal agents early Friday “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bondi later confirmed in a statement." . . . Below: comment to this post:

"The same mouths that say Lemon is a jour[n]alist also claim Nick Shirley isn't one, even though Shirley has uncovered the scam of the century. Lemon? Not so much."

 Legal Insurrection:  Don Lemon Arrested:  

. . . by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship;

"A simple Google search tells you that journalists are not exempt from the FACE Act or other federal criminal laws, even if they are performing their job.

"You are NOT allowed to break the law, no matter what, even if you’re gathering the news."

Jasmine Crockett Melts Down Over Don Lemon's Arrest With Expletive-Laden Rant   

"With Lemon now in federal custody and Democratic lawmakers like Crockett publicly melting down, the case has become a flashpoint in the broader battle over immigration enforcement, protest tactics, and whether “journalism” can excuse actions that cross into alleged criminal conduct."

 WATCH: Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Down In Tears Over Minneapolis Chaos

"The moment quickly spread online, with critics arguing Kimmel’s program has effectively become a political therapy session rather than a comedy show, featuring more lectures and tears than jokes." 

Cartoon of the Day

Soros-Funded Protest Groups Fan Flames of Anti-ICE Violence

National Legal And Policy Center   

"Like today’s anti-ICE demonstrators, the instigators of the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots were funded by ultra-wealthy white people. George Soros and other billionaires who finance the mayhem have benefited the most from capitalism and the rule of law, yet they seek to tear it all down."


"In November, I wrote that the left is awaiting an event that will allow them to instigate widespread political violence. I theorized that because debt-laden Western economies hadn’t seen a downturn since 2008, the next economic crisis might provide the opportunity. But when billionaires like George Soros and Neville Singham provide you with a bottomless pit of money for organization and agitation, why wait for such an unpredictable event?

"Confronting ICE appears to be the ticket. It’s happening in all parts of the country, and not by accident. In Minneapolis, a woman named Renee Nicole Good, who was following around ICE agents in an SUV, was shot and killed by an ICE agent who had been previously injured in a car-ramming incident. The left responded with outrage (although no doubt privately celebrating; every movement needs a martyr) including by breaking the windows of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.

"The protests spread across the country. MoveOn, which along with Indivisible is one of the two main Soros-funded groups organizing the nationwide “No Kings” protests, wasted no time in emailing its activists, charging that Good “was murdered point-blank…while peacefully observing an ICE operation out of concern for her neighbors,” in an “extrajudicial killing by ICE agents.” Recipients were urged to sign a petition to Congress to unmask ICE agents. Indivisible convened a “rapid response call” with the ACLU (also Soros-funded) and “local MN partners” to “learn more about how you can take action this weekend!”

"The legacy media noted the difference between Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s characterization of Good as a “domestic terrorist” and “local officials” who are condemning ICE.

"Governor Tim Walz, who routinely refers to ICE agents as the “Gestapo,” issued a warning that he would mobilize the Minnesota National Guard to “protect Minnesotans” from “rogue ICE agents.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the f*** out of Minneapolis,” and accused ICE of coming to the city to “literally kill people.” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan urged activists to “put your body on the line” to stop ICE agents from “kidnapping” people.

"Of course, ICE is in Minneapolis because it is ground zero for the public benefits fraud scandal to which these very “local officials” are part and parcel. Somali immigrants ripped off taxpayers for billions, allowing for millions in campaign contributions to Democratic politicians. The crisis is deeper than illegal immigration." . . .  More...

Soros-Backed Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner Calls ICE Agents ‘Wannabe Nazis;' Vows to Hunt Them Down - National Legal And Policy Center   

"Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has officially abandoned any pretense of upholding the rule of law. In a move that signals a total breakdown of constitutional order, Krasner announced on January 27 a coalition of radical District Attorneys—including four from Virginia—committed to the criminal prosecution of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

"Rather than focusing on the violent crime wave paralyzing his own city, Krasner is shifting taxpayer resources to “hunt down” federal officers for the “crime” of enforcing our nation’s laws."

Brit who was left paralysed at 21 after breaking his neck on holiday reveals what it's like to have Elon Musk's brain chip

Daily Mail Online  

'" It's mindblowing - you can see the level of control that he has,' said Harith Akram, a neurosurgeon and lead of the UCLH trial."

"One of the first British patients to receive Elon Musk's controversial brain-computer implant has described what it is like to live with the futuristic chip.

"Sebastian Gomez-Pena is taking part in the first UK clinical trial of the Neuralink device, which allows users to control a computer using only their thoughts.

"The former medical student, who was left paralysed from the neck down after a devastating accident two years ago, told Sky News: 'It is a massive change in your life where you can suddenly no longer move any of your limbs. 

"'This kind of technology kind of gives you a new piece of hope.'

"The billionaire tech tycoon has suggested the implant could one day be rolled out to the general public, saying his ultimate ambition is to create a mass-market brain-computer interface that would directly link human minds with powerful machines to achieve 'symbiosis with artificial intelligence'.

"Mr Gomez-Pena, a keen cellist and rugby player, was in his third year of medical school when, aged 21, he dived into shallow water on holiday and struck his head, causing permanent spinal cord damage.

"He is now one of seven participants in the UK trial assessing the safety and reliability of the device in severely paralysed patients. 

"Neuralink has said its mission is to 'restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs and unlock new dimensions of human potential'." . . . More illustrations here.

Police union head slams Minn. as Gov. Walz agrees to have top cop work with border czar

 NY Post  (And also now the California Post)  

“ 'Since the Republican National Convention was held in St. Paul back in 2008, Minnesota law enforcement has undergone extensive training in mobile field force configurations and crowd management for major events. And because of that, I think we’re in the best position to deal with that,” Ross said." 

Peaceful Protest | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

"MINNEAPOLIS — The head of a major Twin Cities police union slammed local officials for blocking cooperation between local cops and ICE and Border Patrol agents – saying if they had been involved, “there would be no loss of life.”

"It comes as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz agreed to have his top cop work with President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan after he rushed to Minneapolis Monday — after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was sidelined.

"St. Paul Police Federation President Mark Ross blamed state and local officials for the anti-ICE protest violence — saying that if highly trained cops were allowed to work with the feds, it likely would have prevented the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“ 'Unfortunately, our local politicians would not allow us to do that,” he added.

"As a result ICE and Border Patrol agents — who are not trained to deal with civilian protests in the same way — have been all on their own to deal with angry locals.

"He said that such cooperation didn’t even require changing Minnesota’s sanctuary laws — or helping ICE make immigration arrests. 

“ 'Had we been allowed just a little bit of coordination –  not in terms of what ICE is doing, but if they say, ‘Hey, we need to go to this place to serve a warrant, we’re going to be out there a couple hours. We’re nervous that crowds are going to form and give us trouble. Can you come out and help?’ That’s something we can easily coordinate with a little bit of notice, and sometimes with hardly any notice, we can get out there quickly,” Ross said.

“ 'I believe, had we been able to do that, that there would be no loss of life at this point,” he said." . . .

What’s Really Causing the Minnesota ‘Insurrection’?  

Walz certainly has not been innocent in the outbreak of anti-ICE violence, having denounced the federal agents as “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.” That remark was made last May, months before Donald Trump’s recent “surge” of ICE to Minnesota, which followed in the wake of a viral video by independent journalist Nick Shirley that exposed apparent fraud in the state’s Somali immigrant community. Many commentators immediately saw the connection: Walz and his fellow Democrats in Minnesota are up to their eyeballs in the fraud scandal — estimated to involve billions of dollars stolen from taxpayer-funded benefit programs — and the deportation of illegal immigrants threatens to break the Democratic Party’s control of the state’s government. (RELATED: Blame Tim Walz for the Federal Presence in Minnesota)

About Pretti’s Gun: An Inconvenient Truth (For The Left)

. . . "There is a call of “Gun, Gun, Gun!” and then Pretti moves his hand with something in it. There’s no time for calm reflection." . . .

. . . "The law is clear. In Barnes v. Felix (2025), a unanimous Supreme Court held that an officer was entitled to consider the totality of circumstances when reacting to a situation. From the viewpoint of the officers, it’s clear that they were responding to a perceived deadly force threat. They were fully justified in firing until they determined that the threat was neutralized. They did not have to make perfect decisions. They had to make decisions that would be reasonable to another officer placed in the same situation." . . .

 Ted Noel is a retired anesthesiologist and Second Amendment student. This post is based on a presentation at our October 2024 conference on the National Firearms Act.

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Whistleblower Exposes LA Metro's Plan to Sideline Buses Advertising 'Melania' Documentary

 Bob Hoge; RedState   

"Now stop and think for a second: does anyone really imagine that if buses were driving around with ads for one of Michelle Obama’s self-pitying tomes or bitter podcasts and were vandalized, that LA Metro would take steps to minimize their exposure? If so, I’ve got a bridge to sell you." BH


All right, I’ll get the disclosure part out of the way right at the start: this story involves my wife, Los Angeles County GOP Chair Roxanne Hoge.

She got a tip on Wednesday that up to one hundred LA Metro buses featuring ads for the Melania movie were being kept out of service for the weekend. Her post about the situation went viral, amassing over 100,000 views:" . . .

. . . “ 'I’m hearing it’s because someone doesn’t want Melania, The Movie, to have a good opening weekend,” Hoge wrote in a X chain that made thousands of impressions.

[…] "Los Angeles Metro admitted to pulling buses with ads promoting First Lady Melania Trump’s new documentary off busy roads over vandalism concerns.

"The transit authority said buses featuring the ads for “Melania” were being rerouted to other “geographic areas to minimize potential vandalism,”

“ 'The buses remain in regular service. Our buses have unfortunately been subject to vandalism over the last couple of years,” the agency told Fox Los Angeles." . . .  More...

Man Who Just Climbed Skyscraper Kicks Himself After Seeing There Was An Elevator All Along

  Babylon Bee


TAIPEI CITY — After spending over an hour-and-a-half climbing to the top of the Taipei 101 skyscraper, Alex Honnold was left kicking himself after realizing there was an elevator just inside.
"Honnold paused to look down after ascending all 101 stories of the massive skyscraper, only to see there was an elevator there the whole time.
""I'm such an idiot," sighed Honnold, seeing people waving as they exited the elevator. "I could have died trying to get up here, when all I had to do was just press a button and wait. Aw man, I really should have picked up on something when I started seeing people through the windows on the 54th story. Boy, do I feel sheepish."
"According to local sources, hundreds of people on the street below tried to yell to Honnold to tell him about the elevator, but to no avail. "We kept telling him to come down, that there was an elevator just inside," said local man Lin Hsu. "But the idiot thought we were just cheering for him, and kept waving with a big dumb grin. What a moron."
"At publishing time, Honnold had asked if anyone could please let him in through a window so he could at least take the elevator back down."

Discouraged, Honnold spent some time relaxing and recuperating in peaceful Minnesota.

"Could it be that his parents knew that Pretti had a propensity to do stupid things? Well, probably."

 

AfterMath - Home

"As with Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, and Renee Good, to name but a few of the left’s honored dead, all is not as it seems."

. . . " And then there’s Alex Pretti. He was, we were told, a nurse, for God’s sake! (Did I mention that before?) He was at this particular ICE protest as a legally armed good Samaritan, trying to save innocent criminals from being rounded up by evil ICE agents. He died only because his childlike goodness led him to aid a woman whom ICE agents were brutally beating. This is the stuff of good martyrdom narratives.

"Except it’s not really true. Instead, he seems to have been a troubled man who became obsessed with opposing ICE. Thus, his father stated, “We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically.”

"Could it be that his parents knew that Pretti had a propensity to do stupid things? Well, probably.

It turns out that a week after that conversation with his dad and a week before his final tangle with ICE, Pretti got physical with ICE agents, resulting in a broken rib:" . . .

. . . Good and Pretti are distinct from other Democrat martyrs in that neither had a history as a gangbanger or a felon. However, they were hardcore activists who embraced confrontation. Like other Democrat martyrs, both were engaged in manifestly criminal activity when they died: Interfering with government law enforcement agents in the performance of their duties, refusing lawful orders, and either attempting to kill or, in the heat of the moment, seemingly attempting to kill those officers.

The only way to elevate them to martyr status, of course, is to continue the leftist pretense that America is a fatally racist, morally corrupt hellhole (to which the whole Third World wishes to immigrate), run by Gestapo-like troops who dare to enforce longstanding federal law.

Editorial Cartoons That Bite

3D scans reveal new details of Titanic’s final moments

"A new documentary uses 3D scans to reveal fresh details on the infamous sinking of the Titanic 113 years ago. “Titanic: The Digital Resurrection” tells the story of how the deep-sea mapping company Magellan created a full-scale precise model of the Titanic and reconstructed the ship’s final moments."

See the Titanic in Remarkable Detail With a 3D Scan That Reveals New Secrets of the Doomed Ship's Final Moments  

They also found that one of the boat’s steam valves was left open, which supports eyewitness accounts that the engineers remained in the boiler room for more than two hours after the ship hit the iceberg—nearly until the end. These 35 men kept the electricity running, allowing the ship to send out distress signals, which may have ultimately saved hundreds of lives.

" 'They kept the lights and the power working to the end, to give the crew time to launch the lifeboats safely with some light instead of in absolute darkness,” Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst, tells BBC News’ Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis.

"Additionally, the digital scan has complicated a controversial narrative about a first officer on the Titanic: William Murdoch, who has long been accused of abandoning his post. In James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster, Murdoch’s character shoots at passengers before shooting himself. But according to the new documentary, the high-resolution scans corroborate the account of Titanic survivor Charles Lightoller, who said Murdoch was swept out to sea while preparing to launch a lifeboat.


Titanic hit the ocean floor like a freight train - and left this behind | Watch

Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ an Ode to Fascists Obstructing the Law

  The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  

"Bruce Springsteen has streets on the brain — and politics. When you mix rock and politics, you get politics. We need less of that right now."


"Do you remember when Bruce Springsteen wrote that rousing anthem to honor Laken Riley?

"Me neither.

"But on Wednesday, he released “Streets of Minneapolis,” an ode to the mob that impedes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from enforcing federal laws passed by our representatives and as ordered to by the duly elected president of the United States. That’s another way of saying that Springsteen wrote a love song to fascists who believe that mob violence should act as a veto on the law. 

“ 'Streets of Minneapolis” offers no colorful descriptions of how this law-breaking mob beat a conservative provocateur bloody, stole a thousand-dollar camera from a journalist, disrupted a church service, or repeatedly attacked ICE agents. That a video showing an armed Alex Pretti, lionized in Springsteen’s song, spitting and hurling abuse at federal agents before he kicked out their taillight, came out the same day as “Streets of Minneapolis” proves inconvenient.

"In Bruce’s sonic telling, federal ICE officers, and not Somali illegal immigrants, are “occupiers,” and federal ICE officers, and not the mob vandalizing their cars and throwing rocks at them, are the “thugs” (if the man in this video was not a thug, then who is?). Springsteen even depicts federal law enforcers as “Trump’s private army.”

"This seems like not just distortion but projection. A “private army” does exist in Minneapolis. Reports trace money from Neville Roy SinghamGeorge Soros, and others, less known, to the groups committed to the organized chaos that helped lead to the deaths of Pretti and Rene Good, who lost her life after she hit an ICE agent with her car while attempting to flee. 

"“Streets of Minneapolis” name-drops Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and “King Trump.” In characteristic leftist, cops-are-criminals, Shawshank Redemption fashion, it depicts the villains as the heroes and the heroes as the villains. The song omits that part about ICE agents heroically risking life and limb to arrest child-molester illegal aliens or Somali immigrants ripping off billions from the taxpayers. “If your skin is black or brown, my friend,” Springsteen sings. “You can be questioned or deported on sight.”

"Is this true that the federal government just randomly deports people because of their skin color?" . . .   More...


Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Argus' Rogue Report

  Argus Hamilton "• The Weather Channel reported that the massive Arctic storm that pummeled the United States left huge sections of America frozen in thick snow and ice Monday. The blizzard knocked the nation flat onto its heels. I will say that Greenland deploying their weather on us was an unexpected first strike.

• The Museum of Television in Beverly Hills hosted a special exhibit Monday which saluted the 100th anniversary of the invention of television by engineer John Baird in London on January 26th, 1925. What a monumental day in human cultural development it was. Anyway, I'm off to watch COPS. 

• President Trump ripped the choice of Puerto Rican hip-hop star Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime show. Trump could sue him for trademark infringement. Bad Bunny bills himself as the King of Latin Trap and, in the past year alone, NO king has trapped more Latins than Donald J. Trump. 

• Governor Tim Walz caused a furor Monday comparing the ICE agents in Minneapolis to Nazi troopers who captured Anne Frank. I dreamed that night that Walz played Anne Frank in the play. Walz was so bad in the role that when the Germans arrived, the audience all shouted, She's in the Attic! 

• Minnesota protests boiled over Sunday after an a 2nd protestor in 2 weeks was shot and killed while interfering with an ICE arrest of an illegal alien criminal. The protestors now allege the ICE agents in Minneapolis are inexperienced. I don't know about that, their aim has been pretty Good so far. 

• ICE Director Tom Homan was sent to Minneapolis Monday to try to defuse the media-driven chaos. Former CNN host Don Lemon led an angry protest raid on a church service, but the FBI refuses to file charges against him. Sending this guy into a men's prison would only spice up his love life. 

• Governor Tim Walz faced a widening federal fraud probe in Minnesota Monday amid the anti-ICE protests. IRS agents uncovered 400 fraudulent Somali autism centers in one building. The autism centers distribute Tylenol to Somali welfare recipients in hopes of producing the next Elon Musk. 

• NASA's Artemis 2 spacecraft and its crew will take off next week and fly around the moon for practice. It's ahead of the Artemis 3 moon landing in 2027. It recalls for Baby Boomers the thrilling July 1969 Apollo 11's landing on the moon, where Neil Armstrong was greeted by Mormon missionaries."

What to Know About Bryan Kohberger's Sisters, Mel and Amanda Kohberger

 People  

" 'Bryan, you are running outside and this psycho killer is on the loose,” she remembered telling him, per The New York Times. “Be careful.” He reportedly thanked her for the check-in and promised to stay safe."

The accused, his mother and sister, Amanda

. . . "[Melissa] has worked in mental health counseling  "Mel had pursued a career in mental health counseling and was training for a job as a mental health therapist in New Jersey. But she told The New York Times that after her new employer became overwhelmed with inquiries, she agreed to leave the position before it formally began.

"In addition to losing out on a job, Mel has also had people attempt to make money from the horrific crime off of her name. She cited a book about the case that appeared on Amazon with the author listed as "Melissa J. Kohberger.” 

“It’s confusing,” she said. “It’s painful. It’s like being victimized but not really being a victim.”

Bryan Kohberger Took Plea Deal Days After Learning His Sister Amanda Was on Prosecution Witness List

Bryan Kohberger's sister [Amanda] was potential prosecution witness in Idaho case   "Newly unsealed court documents show that Amanda Kohberger appeared on the state’s amended witness list and was also named on the defense’s mitigation witness list by lead attorney Anne Taylor.

"The overlapping filings show that Amanda was positioned as a potential witness for both sides in the weeks before Kohberger’s plea. Within days of the June 25 filing that listed his sister as a prosecution witness, he accepted a plea deal that spared the case from going to trial." . . .

Bryan Kohberger's high school friends say the accused killer was overweight and bullied - CBS News 

Bryan Kohberger's sisters Melissa & Amanda lose their jobs: Should they start lawsuits or YouTube?  Mostly a sales pitch.


"Could life be imitating art?

The sister of accused Idaho college killer Bryan Kohberger starred in a gory low-budget slasher movie where characters are brutally stabbed, slashed and hacked to death with knives and hatchets."

"Amanda Kohberger appeared as “Lori” in the 2011 flick “Two Days Back” about a group of young students who go hiking in the remote woods and meet their grisly end at the hands of a maniacal killer who has won their trust.

"It bears eerie similarities to the knife attacks in remote Moscow, Idaho, that left four young college friends stabbed to death in their beds, crimes of which Bryan now stands accused.".. 

Who are [Bryan Kohberger's sisters, and what do they do] for a living?   "Amanda lost her job at Pleasant Valley School District due to public and media pressure, not misconduct. On the other hand, Bryan Kohberger's sister, Melissa, also lost her mental health therapist position shortly after, though details about her employer were not made public. A source revealed: I’m told the family is in very, very bad shape financially right now, especially because the sisters are now unemployed." . . . Read more...